Collocation exercises

COLLOCATIONS EXERCISES
I. Fill in the blanks with appropriate verbs:
1. The meeting took almost five hours so it was impossible to______________
attention all the time.
2. The problem is difficult to__________ under control.
3. It took us all day to clean up the office after the burglary – the
thieves____________ a terrible mess.
4. I don't think we should_____________ a decision yet; we should wait.
5. Only 31% of the students who_______________ the final exam passed it.
6. I think we should look for a new supplier – the one we have at the moment
_______________ us too many problems.
7. Could you _______________ me a favour and post these letters on your way
home?
8. I've told him ten times that he's got the wrong telephone number. I'll
_______________ crazy if they call again.
9. The company offers its employees free language training but not many people
_______________ advantage of it.
10. Our personnel assistant is leaving next month - she's _______________ a baby.
II. Choose a word from the box to fill in each blank:
great
missed
terribly
wide
hard
start
told
well
heavy
strong
vitally
wasted

1. I really_________ my family when I stayed in Canada on my own last year.
2. When I went into the children's room, the boys were both fast asleep, but Oliver
was_________ awake, reading the Little Prince story.
3. I _________ my time on that course; it was terrible.
4. I'm sure he is _________ aware of the problem.
5. It's _________ important that we finish this work by the end of the week.


6. We are _________ sorry we are late, but we missed the bus and had to wait
ages for another one.
7. We carried the carton of books up to the fourth floor, and it was very _________
work.
8. She _________ everyone the same joke, and nobody laughed.
9. I think they want to get married and _________ a family.
10. My mum doesn't drink _________ coffee at night because it keeps her awake
11. Everyone said the party was a _________ success.
12. If this rain continues, I don't think we'll go to the beach.
III. Circle correct answers:
1. My grandfather was a …………………. smoker, so few people were surprised
when he died of oral cancer.
a) serial
b) heavy
c) big
2. She was a / an ……………………. wife who loved her husband more than
anything else in the whole universe.
a) devoted
b) sincere
c) intelligent
3. I always avoid his company because he is a crashing ……………………..
a) bore

b) nuisance
c) guy
4. It is a golden ………………………… If you miss it, you will regret it.
a) chance
b) opportunity


c) offer
5. She seemed quite interested in buying that house, but at the last moment, she
changed her …………………..
a) mind
b) thoughts
c) offer
6. Although I was …………………. annoyed by her attitude, I said nothing.
a) moderately
b) lightly
c) slightly
7. Could you …………………. the oil?
a) inspect
b) check
c) test